Ah Levadeiakos... one of those teams, along with Panionios, Volou, and Xanthi, that I just love seeing AEK beat.

Couldnt watch the game because I had to work, but hey, we got the three points. Highlights from what Ive heard/seen: Sialmas' goalara, good keeping by Konstantopoulos, and a well reffed match (aside from the unnecessary to Sialmas).

First of all, happy new year everyone. I hope your holidays were great.

New Year started, Im hoping to get some more posts up on the blog from now on. First, Ill start with what Ive seen so far during the first half of our match with Doxa Dramas.

1. Sialmas needs to learn how to finish!

Gudjohnsen fractured his leg in two places in the game against Olympiakos, when he collided with Oly's goalkeeper Constanzo. Gudjohnsen will be out for at least four months, but I think we won't see him on the pitch for the rest of the season.

Well, more or less good news is that we didn't lose the game: 1-1.

When I went to sleep yesterday Manolo Jimenez was still in charge of AEK. When I woke up it was Nikos Kostenoglou. 'A decision both AEK and me agreed on', as Jimenez put it, 'AEK will always be in my heart, but it was time for a change.'

Jimenez has been our headcoach for about a year, and the first one since 2002 who was succesful when it comes to prizes: the Greek cup.

So, a lot has happened since my last post, and not much of it was good.

Before talking briefly about today's match, Ill mention the other two we played this week, even though Id much rather not.

So, PAOK-AEK in Toumba. Of all the derbies we play each season, the PAOK one rarely gives as much trouble as others.

Yep, 2 for 2 in the championship already. Who would have thought? Certainly not me (if I read correctly, we had 2 points by this time last season). And really, THESE are the games we must be winning. Take the 07-08 season for example, where easily avoidable home losses to teams like Iraklis and Panionios cost us the championship.

Yep. Not looking good for us.

I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting much at all from this match. However, after seeing our players give it their all for much of the first half, I almost felt like we had a chance for the three points. But sadly fatigue, and terrible goaltending (if it can even be called that?

Group ATottenham Hotspur FC (ENG)
FC Rubin Kazan (RUS)
PAOK FC (GRE)
Shamrock Rovers FC (IRL)
Group B
FC København (DEN)
R. Standard de Liège (BEL)
Hannover 96 (GER)
FC Vorskla Poltava (UKR)
Group C
PSV Eindhoven (NED)
Hapoel Tel-Aviv FC (ISR)
FC Rapid Bucureşti (ROU)
Legia Warszawa (POL)
Group D
Sporting Clube de Portugal (POR)
S.

There are plenty of Americans still involved in the UEFA Europa League, but none will play against each other until the knockout stage at the earliest after Friday's draw revealed this season's 12 groups.

Jozy Altidore has been on fire as of late, and his AZ Alkmaar has a favorable outlook in Group G.

Dempsey is hoping to lead Fulham back to the Europa League final

UEFA has completed the draw for the Group Stage of the 2011-12 Europa League, and it poses some intriguing matchups - and trips - for the U.S. players involved. A total of 48 teams were drawn into 12 groups competing for the right to compete in the final on May 9, 2012, in Bucarest, Romania.

Sorteio do "play-off" da UEFA Europa League
Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC (ISR) - Panathinaikos FC (GRE)
Club Atlético de Madrid (ESP) - Vitória de Guimarães (POR)
Shamrock Rovers FC (IRL) - FK Partizan (SRB)
FC Metalist Kharkiv (UKR) - FC Sochaux-Montbéliard (FRA)
Beşiktaş JK (TUR) - FC Alania Vladikavkaz (RUS)
Rosenborg BK (NOR) - AEK Larnaca FC (CYP)
FC Vorskla Poltava (UKR) - FC Dinamo Bucureşti (ROU)
Bursaspor (TUR) - RSC Anderlecht (BEL)
AS Roma (ITA) - K Slovan Bratislava (SVK)
Olympiacos Volou FC (GRE) - Paris Saint-Germain FC (FRA)
Legia Warszawa (POL) - FC Spartak Moskva (RUS)
FK Ekranas (LTU) - Hapoel Tel-Aviv FC (ISR)
PAOK FC (GRE) - FC Karpaty Lviv (UKR)
Trabzonspor AŞ (TUR) - Athletic Club (ESP)
Heart of Midlothian FC (SCO) - Tottenham Hotspur FC (ENG)
NK Maribor (SVN) - Rangers FC (SCO)
FC Steaua Bucureşti (ROU) - PFC CSKA Sofia (BUL)
FC Nordsjælland (DEN) - Sporting (POR)
FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (UKR) - Fulham FC (ENG)
FC Lokomotiv Moskva (RUS) - FC Spartak Trnava (SVK)
FC Sion (SUI) - Celtic FC (SCO)
WKS Śląsk Wrocław (POL) - FC Rapid Bucureşti (ROU)
PFC Litex Lovech (BUL) - FC Dynamo Kyiv (UKR)
S.

Firstly, I'd like to apologize for not having posted anything recently, my internet connection was limited the past two weeks while I was away and so I couldn't really get a post up.

Enough has happened since then though, and Im not sure where to begin. There has been talk on and off about the match fixing scandals, though (and Im not surprised at all) it seems Marinakis won't be touched any time soon.

UK journalist Matt Slater has summarized the corruption scandal in Greek football for the English speaking world here, but one line struck me in particular:

When Deputy Culture Minister Giorgos Nikitiadis said this was "the darkest day in the history of Greek football" it was probably the first pronouncement by a politician anybody in the country had entirely agreed with for months.

Really not sure where to start this one, but I guess Ill begin with Scocco transfer (though I'm sure most of you have heard by now). Yep, Nacho Scocco is no longer a player of AEK. And I really don't know what to say about this... literally.

Three seasons he's been with us and in during those three seasons he has left us with so many great memories: his two goals in the 4-4 Cup Final, his two goals against Oly to give us the win in Karaiskaki, his two goals (one of them being an outrageously beautiful shot, as were most of his goals) against Aris, his two goals against Vaslui, his fantastic shot against Panionios, a number of goals against PAO.

So, I know its a bit late, but I figured I'd get a short review of the season up (even though its a season, one of many, that I would ultimately like to forget about)..

I guess it would be most appropriate to start from the beginning though in all honesty, I can barely remember much from the first half of the season!

I'll try to keep some live updates of the match here for those without a way to watch it. From what I know, the three links below will show a stream of the match:

-http://aektv.weebly.com/

-http://aektv.weebly.com/aektv2.html

-http://aektv.weebly.com/aektv1.html

I'll add more streams if I come across any.

So, just a little over a week after we won our first Cup in so many years (despite the rather depressing events which followed after the match), us AEK fans were treated to yet another pleasing weekend. This time, however, the attention was not only on our football team, but also our Handball guys, a group of players who have fought hard and gave everything they had to offer to the club for the past three years.

Alright, so I'm not sure whether I should start with the positives, or the negatives from this match. Either way, I'm sure most of you have read about yesterday's events by now.

So, the big day had come. For months I had been waiting for it, as I'm certain you all have also, and slowly the hours passed by, one by one, until it was time to finally head off to OAKA for my first time in almost five months.

AEK has beaten the locals courtesy of goals from Manolas and two from Lagos.Unfortunately,I didn't watch the game,but highlights can be found on this link....

I hope AEKMAN74 won't mind me adding to his post, but I figured I'd just add to his rather than post a new entry. I only managed to find a decent stream in time for the second half so that's all I can comment on, but I still won't say much.

AEK fans all around the world world will be rejoicing today after our beloved team came back from Thesaloniki with a hard earned,well deserved victory over the locals,in the second leg of Greek Cup Semi final.The one nil scoreline was more than enough to take us through to the final on April 30 at the OAKA.

The board of AEK has asked Greek prime minister Papandreou to take meaures to clean up the Super League. Adamidis wants Papandreou to end the supporters violence, corruption and accusations of fraude in the Greek topleague.

AEK chairman Adamidis thinks that Papandreou can play the same role as Margareth Thatcher did in the UK in the 1980′s.

Im pretty sure Ive used that title before but Im going to use it again because I feel it works for the occasion. Today, in the same stadium, against the same team we so miserably drew 0-0 with five days ago, we witnessed a performance from AEK that was unlike anything we've seen yet this season (in my opinion).

I seriously wonder sometimes... if it wasn't for what our badge stands for and some of the legends that have worn our shirt, why would any of us bother even paying the slightest attention to this joke of a league. I'm referring specifically to yesterday's derby between Oly and PAO though also our match today as well as yesterday's match between Tripolis and Kerkyra.

The roller coaster ride that has been AEK this season continues yet again, this time as a result of a 2-1 home loss to Aris (only the 3rd time Aris has beaten us at home).

It wasn't all bad for me personally as I felt there were some positives to take from the game including some nice football we were playing, particularly in the first half.

We made it much more difficult for us than we needed to but, thanks for Michel's last second GOLARA, AEK are through to the semi-finals!

I'll admit that I did miss the second half due to this lovely snowstorm we had today in Ontario and the shoveling which was required, but I managed to catch the first even though it wasn't all good news.

Davide Mateo, 23 year old centre back signed on loan by AEK, had his first training session with the team today and nothing but praise has been said about him.

According to team mates and management, he is excellent with the ball at his feet and has an excellent sense of the pitch and positioning.

The signing of Miguel Madera, known more commonly as Michel, has been confirmed by AEK on the club's site. The deal is a loan deal (the player was previously part of Birmingham's squad but failed to make many appearances from what I read) with an option to buy. I can't say I know very much about him, but he's said some good things about the club and seems to be happy with moving to AEK.

What a sweet, sweet victory for all of us AEK fans today! A 2-0 victory over PAO in their own stadium, with both goals being scored by Libe.

The match was a fairly even affair throughout with neither side absolutely dominating possession. The match started with a very low pace with neither team looking to risk too much offensively too early in the game.

We NEEDED a win and thankfully that's just what we got! Now, before we get too confident, this was Panserraikos we played. An AEK team that we the fans want should beat this team EVERY match, home and away, and comfortably, rather than having us threaten the team not to return if they lose. Yes, we got the win, but let's not forget the fact that we still have many problems which need to be resolved, ASAP.

I was really looking forward to this game today as it was going to be my first AEK match that I'd be seeing live since last season. I'm now sitting here wondering what I was all excited about in the first place!

First match of the new year after a fairly quiet holiday period and we needed a win to keep a good grip on third place.